Capps, former head of Stuart's Helping People Succeed, dies at age 68

STUART —Friends and family will gather Saturday in Stuart to remember Micheal Capps, former chief operating officer at Helping People Succeed, who died in Jacksonville on April 27 after a short battle with leukemia.

Capps, 68, worked almost 30 years at Helping People Succeed and sat on the board as a founding member of Treasure Coast Hospice. He died of leukemia after a short battle with the disease.

Capps moved to Tallahassee from the Stuart area in 2010 so he could take a job as employment program manager for the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council.

It was the next logical step for a man who dedicated his life to helping people with disabilities, said Suzy Hutcheson, Helping People Succeed chief executive officer.

Hutcheson and Capps worked together for more than 29 years.

"Mike was the key person in starting our journey to help people with significant disabilities find jobs, and you see a lot of people working at Publix and working in a lot of the different retail businesses (because of Mike)," Hutcheson said. "We even had a person work in a law firm for 25 years doing microfilming who was born in an institution."

Hutcheson said Capps never met a person he didn't think he could help.

"The great thing about Mike is he never said 'I don't think this person can do it,' he always said, 'Let's see how we can help this person make it happen,'" Hutcheson said.

Another aspect of Capps' loving personality was how he referred to his wife, Carol, as his bride, Hutcheson said.

"Through his work, we traveled a lot together and met a lot of wonderful people in his field," Carol Capps said, adding that their 32nd wedding anniversary is June 10.

"He always did call me his bride, and when we'd go somewhere they'd say, 'How long have you all been married?' and he'd say, '35 to 40 years, but she's always my bride, but it seems like 50.' He had a dry sense of humor."

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Helping People Succeed, Inc., the Micheal F. Capps Memorial Fund for Employment for People with Disabilities, 1100 S.E. Federal Highway, Stuart, 34994, or National APSE Foundation, which assists people with disabilities in employment endeavors, APSE, 416 Hungerford Drive, Suite 418, Rockville, Md. 20850.